Double Trouble: The Flaws Within

by Masterius

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The soft ‘tock’ of hooves sounded shockingly loud as Sunset Shimmer paced down the corridor along with her escorts. And they were escorts: guides, not jailers.

Not that escorts were necessary for guidance, she distantly thought, choking up inside. Even after all these years, she knew the paths of Canterlot Castle and its environs as intimately as if only a day had passed.

From the moment the wood under the drawbridge had vibrated from their hoofsteps those retrospections had blossomed, growing stronger and clearer as they’d quickly yet gravely paced through Canterlot and towards the castle proper, while actually entering the castle felt as powerful as a kick in her barrel. For a moment, no longer, it felt as if she had never left but, instead, had only gone into the city for a spot of shopping.

But, for a moment only.

However, circumstances did not permit lingering on that agonizing aspect of homecoming—and, make no mistake, it was terribly painful—not when Princess Celestia might very well be dying!

She was not surprised when, instead of heading towards the throne room, they entered the private wing of the Palace reserved for Princess Celestia. And here, too, she knew the way, for how often had she spent time with her teacher, her mentor, in her private, personal domain?

Her escorts—Royal Guardspony officers both—paused outside the bedroom suite, one of them raising a hoof and sharply knocking.

“Who is it?” demanded a curt, unfamiliar feminine voice.

“Lieutenant Arrow Storm, Your Highness.”

“Enter,” returned the brusque response.

The second Royal Guardspony opened the door, then motioned for Sunset Shimmer to enter. She was actually so distraught, so anxious, so terribly frantic about her beloved teacher, she’d actually taken several steps into the room before what he’d said filtered through her subliminal reception and into her consciousness.

Your Highness? But…But I thought Princess Celestia was in a coma? Who did he…oh. Oh. Oh, oh my…

Her thoughts slithered to a stop as she came to an abrupt halt, head rocking back, eyes wide as saucers.

Standing next to Princess Celestia’s bed was another pony. An alicorn to be precise. She was not any bigger than Sunset Shimmer herself. Or Princess Twilight Sparkle, for that matter. She certainly was not as big as Princess Celestia!

She swallowed. Hard. Physical size, she was realizing, did not necessarily mean a thing.

This alicorn was, for all her diminutive physical stature, radiating a power that was literally palpable to her. Sunset Shimmer felt as if she were shrinking in size and age down to a foal, with the eeriest sensation of this dreadfully imposing mare suddenly looming over her. Light blue eyes that harshly glittered pinned her to the spot; her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth.

She had been so overwrought with worry, first over Princess Twilight and then Princess Celestia, she hadn’t really thought all that much about current events, especially ones she hadn’t personally experienced when she’d still been in Equestria. When she had left, there had only been one reigning monarch, only one Royal Princess of Equestria.

But…now there were two.

And Sunset Shimmer was—quite unexpectedly and with no warning at all—facing the second.

Swallowing hard once more, she clumsily bowed, hastily stretching out right foreleg, sharply folding left at the knee, and extending her neck. “Y‑y‑Your H‑h‑h‑Highness,” she stuttered; for, although she had never actually met Princess Luna, there was no mistaking to whom she was giving obeisance.

“We were expecting Princess Twilight,” came the cool statement, yet one that rung in her head like brazen, bronze gongs that would brook no foolishness. “And thou art?”

“S‑Sunset S‑Shimmer, Your Highness,” the flustered unicorn whispered.

“Ah yes; the Betrayer.”

She had not thought it was possible to have shrunk any smaller, but she’d been wrong.

“Hold,” Princess Luna commanded, holding out a shod forehoof and silencing anything Sunset Shimmer might have intended to say. Neither gesture nor command had been at all necessary, for the poor mare had not even considered any response to that dreadful “entitlement”. “Prithee, accept mine apologies,” the grim‑visaged alicorn intoned. “That was unkind and churlish of me. I have no excuse save grief, yet that is a poor defense natheless. Rise, Sunset Shimmer.”

Awkwardly rising to her hooves, feeling more gawky and gangly than she had in years, she found herself standing almost nose‑to‑nose and horn‑to‑horn with Princess Luna, who was deeply gazing into her eyes with an intensity that was frightening.

There was a soft, pained gasp from the bed; Sunset Shimmer instantly jerked her head about, so fast her vision spangled. “Princess Celestia!” she cried out.

Unseen by the distraught unicorn, Princess Luna’s stern countenance softened. The pain in Sunset Shimmer’s voice told her everything she needed to know about this most prodigal of mares.

Stepping over and standing alongside Sunset Shimmer, Luna gazed down at her sister who was lying in bed, covered up to her chin beneath a griffin‑down comforter. Except for the faint, shallow rise and fall of her chest there was little sign of life.

Without preamble, Luna addressed Sunset Shimmer. “We had just retired to bed, having taken some respite after Our nightly duties and labours, and having finished Our ablutions. It seemed We had no sooner fallen into slumber when We abruptly awoke, terribly affrighted by direful impressions of doom and loss.” She glanced sideways at the unicorn standing next to her. “It might surprise thee to know that even The Princess of The Night may have nightmares. But She can, and She does…and some never go away,” she finished, much more softly and barely audible.

A moment passed, one that seemed to stretch for much longer, before she continued, giving a little toss of her head before speaking. “That dream—if dream it soothly was—was dire and dreadful, and didst but throw Our thoughts into a whirlwind of confusion and despair. We had tossed Our sheets off and staggered out of bed, still confounded and befuddled, whence from Our door came a fearsome pounding.” Princess Luna’s dark coat rippled as skin twitched in memory. “‘Twas the Royal Guards.”

She paused a moment, gazing down at her older sister with an expression of mingled love and fear. “Our sister had been holding Court, as is her wont in the morn. They say that, without warning, she simply collapsed.” Gesturing with her muzzle at Celestia, she finished, “As you see here. There has been no change in her condition.”

Turning her head, Luna gazed at the unicorn standing next to her. “Although We have detected no sign of magic upon Her, We are most certain the attack that has struck down Our sister is magical in nature. Certes, naught else could do so. Which is why We had summoned Princess Twilight Sparkle, for she is most puissant in magic. Why, therefore, has she not answered Our summons?”

Sunset Shimmer’s face crumpled as fresh tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Your Highness,” she replied, her voice thick and choked, “There’s been a terrible accident!” Luna’s head rocked back as the distraught unicorn continued, “It all started when…”

---

They sat facing each other across a small, round table that normally held a vase of fresh flowers. The vase had been temporarily removed so that a small coffee service could be placed there. Each for their own reasons—Luna, because she was normally asleep at this hour; Sunset Shimmer because she was too distraught and anxious to have any appetite at all—had turned down the offer of light hoof sandwiches.

It was very quiet in Princess Celestia’s bedroom. The drapes had been pulled back, providing both light and warmth, but nothing could truly dispel the chill each of them felt deep down to the marrow of their bones.

Sunset Shimmer had long ago finished her account of what had transpired back in Ponyville, starting with their arrival in the Portal Room at the Castle of the Friendship Rainbow Kingdom, and ending with her having cast sleep on her friend to prevent her from potentially making a fatal error. She did not mention being arrested, doing so not to hide the fact that she had been a suspect but to spare any potential repercussions against the two Royal Canterlot Guardsponies.

Princess Luna had remained silent the entire time, save for once. That had been when the tearful unicorn had taken complete responsibility for what had happened to Princess Twilight, claiming that if she had just been faster, had just been more competent, she could have stopped the Book from going through the Crystal Mirror. If she had stopped it, she had quavered, the Mirror would not have been destroyed, and, therefore, whatever had happened to Princess Twilight would not have occurred. At that point, Luna had reached out a foreleg and lightly touched the front of Sunset Shimmer’s muzzle with her hoof, gently silencing her.

With a solicitousness that had brought even more tears to her eyes, the Princess of The Night had mildly remonstrated Sunset Shimmer, protesting her self‑accusations. Hindsight, she had said, was perfect; ponies were not. It was one thing to honestly appraise one’s actions and accept fault where found, and quite another to assign blame when it was neither warranted nor deserved.

Her head snapped up from the contemplation of her coffee mug when Princess Luna cleared her throat. “I do not know thee as well as mine sister did,” she said, dropping the Royal “We”. “But she didst but speak of thee quite often.” Sunset Shimmer felt her cheeks and throat heat. “Thou wert, she hath saith, as mighty in promise as any unicorn she kenned, lacking only,” she gazed at her, “compassion, humility, charity, and sincerity to become truly extraordinary.”

This time, the deep flush was borne of intense shame, and she was startled when Princess Luna held up a hoof. Glancing up, her eyes were caught and held by Luna’s, feeling powerfully dumbfounded and staggered at the intensity of that penetrating scrutiny. There was no judgment there, no condemnation. Instead, and rather shockingly, there was commiseration and understanding.

That surprise, however, lasted only a moment, for she suddenly realized a fact she had already been aware of: the alicorn in front of her had once been Nightmare Moon. If anypony could empathize with having fallen from grace and the struggle for redemption and forgiveness after that, she would!

“Princess Twilight is, alas, unavailable, due to circumstances none may have predicted…or prevented. Wouldst thou, of thy courtesy,” Luna gravely requested, “see what thou mayest do for mine Sister?”

Heart thudded painfully at that, Sunset Shimmer deeply bowed her head, tilting forward until the tip of her horn touched the tabletop. “It—” she swallowed, “It would be my honor, Your Highness.”

Pushing her chair back, she rose, taking a moment to catch her breath once up on all four hooves before solemnly pacing over to the side of the bed. There was no visible change in Princess Celestia’s status, for good or for ill. Sunset Shimmer’s horn momentarily glowed as she “lifted” the comforter up, then down, exposing her to view.

It was odd. On the one hoof, she looked as if simply peacefully sleeping; there were no visible signs of distress or pain. On the other hoof, there was something…elusive…enigmatic…plainly radiating a sense of wrongness.

For several minutes, Sunset Shimmer simply watched, observing without actually focusing on any one thing in particular, before closing her eyes and “looking” at her magically, first using passive, then active, mage senses.

It was when she “looked” at Princess Celestia with active senses that she felt that wrongness even stronger. Contrary to expectations—and commonly understood, uncontroversial accepted fact—her passive sensing felt stronger to her than her active had felt.

Carefully probing Princess Celestia’s prostrate form, Sunset Shimmer continued the examination, her concentration as tightly focused as never before. There did not seem to be an iota of magic anywhere about her, and that was just wrong. Not peculiar; not unusual; just unmistakably, outright wrong. Opening her eyes and blinking a bit, she began simultaneously looking and ‘looking’, overlapping the purely visual with her inner, arcane senses.

And that was when something stuck out like a sore hoof.

Her normal perception clearly saw Princess Celestia’s cutie mark, plain as day and as sharply distinct as ever. However, to her mage sense…it was so dim as to be practically invisible, her flank appearing almost as blank as a foal’s.

“That’s odd,” she murmured, her voice distant, so utterly was she concentrating. “I wonder why—”

Her voice cut off with swift, shocking suddenness as she dropped to the ground as if shot, all of her magic drained from her the instant she had fully focused her power on that ghostly phantasmic cutie mark.

Author's Note:

Updated and revised 02/08/2020

Comments

[Csquared08]

Now, I haven't seen the episode in quite some time, but I'm pretty sure Luna had mostly dropped the "old English" style of speaking by "Sleepless in Ponyville." Given that this is post-RR, this is also post-Sleepless. You might wanna fix that up.

“That's odd,” she murmured, her voice distant, so utterly she was concentrating. “I wonder why—“

Her voice cut off with swift, shocking suddenness as she dropped to the ground as if shot, all of her magic drained from her the instant she'd fully focused her power on that ghostly phantasmic cutie mark.

How curious.

[Imperator Knoedel]

Dun dun dun